Today (2/08/2017) we took a group on a Canal boat at the Waterways Experience in Hemel Hempstead. Even the weather (a typical English summers day) didn’t dampen our spirits if we were a little damp on the outside as we sailed ?? down the Grand Union canal, even stopping for a fish n chips lunch.

Waterways Experience are a registered charity and operate three large canal boats from a beautifully landscaped boatyard on the Grand Union Canal just to the south of Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire.

Their mission is to promote well-being by providing affordable canal boat trips particularly for the disadvantaged. As well as day trips all year round, we provide very special holidays for teenagers with learning difficulties or other disadvantages. Operating without any paid employees. As volunteers, what makes us tick is the satisfaction of being able to share our passion for the waterways and canal boating with people normally excluded from this pastime.

On the 25th May we had a day trip to Windsor with the guys from Outreach on a a gloriously sunny day. We started by strolling around the Castle and town, had lunch , 40 minute boat ride down the Thames, an ice cream for all and finally a sit down in the park in the shade to recover.

Handmade Heritage

Heritage Day and Community Project

sharing stories and uncovering local heritage through creativity

Three Rivers District Council are delighted announce that the Leisure Team will be hosting another free, family heritage day with support received from Heritage Lottery Fund and other local partners!

After the successful Leavesden Heritage Day event of 2016, the Handmade Heritage Day will feature local history groups and their displays, art activities and another Living History walk through the park, guided by actors in costume.

The event will also be an opportunity to showcase some of the exciting work that primary schools and adult groups have been focussing on in our community project, all themed around the rich heritage of Leavesden Country Park and Abbots Langely. People are learning more about this heritage through visits from historians, archive services and local experts, before producing artwork and performance which will be displayed at the heritage day and as a part of the activities on offer.

We are working with Abbots Langley Primary School, Bedmond Village Primary School, Breakspeare School, Leavesden JMI School, Bedmond Women’s Institute, Margaret House Care Home and Watford and Three Rivers Community Learning and Disability groups. We are also working with a number of volunteers who are assisting with sharing their memories and stories of the area, as well as capturing conversation between others.

Shepherd Centre gets involved with Handmade Heritage Day.

The guys from outreach were asked to help out for the Handmade Heritage event designing leaves featuring pictures from Leavesden Studios (Harry Potter) and Leavesden Hospital to add to a communal display.